Canoeing in Nunavut, Canada
7/8 (8:28p) The folks from Nunavut.
This morning as we finished our breakfast and were about to begin packing our boats we saw the kayakers and pack-boat canoe approaching from down river. Just after 7:00 the group had to have traveled a good 6 miles by this time and we hadn’t even hit the water! They came to our campsite and we realized that they were suited in gear-queer fashioned paddling attire with fully loaded boats and a skirt covering the pack canoe. They docked their boats planning to have breakfast after their morning paddle at our campsite on lookout point. From talking we discovered that they were experienced paddlers who did frequent trips in and around the region planning to paddle to Baker lake over a 31 day span at a rather leisurely pace, not pushing to hard for miles, and escaping any large portages. They continually commented in compliments on the length and audacity of our route saying that we must be making hard miles,
“it must have been two strokes before you guys were gone around the corner yesterday.”
We packed the boats as they took over our morning fire and set off probably not to see them again. (they set down on tundra plane after flying in from baker, were moving to Saskatoon after their “last northern adventure before leaving.”)
The rest of the day was rather smooth as we passed into Nunavut from NWT and are quickly approaching some hard days of portaging. Jeremy, Chase, Sam and I went over the larger-scaled maps detailing the portage route in the thick bugs of camp to get a better feeling of what we’ll be up against. Tomorrow should be our last day on the Thelon, as we’ll start the portaging towards the Morse on day 23, or 7/10. We’re still a few days ahead and look to be in great shape to make it. We’ve reviewed the maps and logs, but more than anything are tightly knit as a group and finely in tune physically.
Above all, our mental tenacity is at an all time high...
... and after enjoying the beautiful and luxurious Thelon, we’re ready to tackle the most important challenge of our trip, the portage that has only been taken once before. Not a single thread of doubt makes up the finely knit group and our determination is unbreakable. We also started discussing as a group plans for when we return to Yellowknife and to MN. In detail they sound great, as I have thought of these things in my head often but paused to say them allowed as being only 3 weeks into a proposed 8 week trip I thought it may be soon to be thinking about “home” just yet. In the mean time I’m enjoying the daily scenery and lifestyle and don ‘t want to miss a moment of the here-and-now.
The Zen attitude is one of the woods, and one I enjoy thoroughly.
DRC: Sunny to the west as we traveled into the cloudy, overcast east. The dreary sky overtook us by mid morning and started sprinkling us with rain, on & off at lunch through dinner, with frequent and long breaks. I caught a small grayling at camp..my 1st! The rain is never hard and doesn’t seem to do much to the arid, rocky ground as it runs off the dry sand and stones into the river.














